Bahama Bucks and swimming in AZ

When we got back to Arizona, guess what we did? 

Swim!

Swim swim swim swim swim.

A bunch of these pictures are so similar but I love all of Maxson's expressions. He loved this little squirt gun and was oober proud of himself when he could finally fill the gun and squirt it himself.

 The second picture is Max doing itsy bitsy spider on the wall. (Look ma, no hands!)

 a. Look at that cute little bum

b. Maxson LOVED spraying Casey and I with the freezing cold hose. I think that was even better than the squirt gun.

 Another night we finally got to take Cody and Camille's family to Bahama Bucks, Casey was really excited, as was the rest of the crew!

 I love this little series of 3 pictures, Brielle taking the first sips of a smoothie and Jaden disappointed, haha.

 We LOVE our Bahama Bucks, that snow is just so dang smooth!

 We took a trip to IKEA (IKEA!!!!) to pick up  few little kid things (I wish it was furniture!). Well we got to try out our new groovy stroller! Let me tell you, it's gonna be pretty sweet with the twins and Maxson!

Park City

All these posts are apparently going to be blogged in reverse chronology.

We speedily drove up to Utah (in our new shnazzy van, oh the room inside!) to meet up with Casey's family after our time in Airzona. They happened to have a time share in Park City the week following our trip in Hawaii so we joined them for the latter end of it. When we first got there they happened to be in Springville working on cleaning up a lot they own. While Casey worked with them, that's when I took Max to the splash pad (that the idiot put in the do not play in the fountain water feature close by). We were allllll tired by the end of the day. But we were able to snap a quick 4 generation picture with Grandpa Hal (bonus: Maxson saw all 4 of his living grandfather figures within a 24 hour time frame 1. my dad in AZ 2. my Grandpa in St. George 3. Casey's dad in Utah 4. Casey's Grandpa in Utah. Pretty cool!)

We all went to In-N-Out for dinner but I don't know where that picture went...

 Derek was kind enough to be our baggage boy, ha.

Max was obsessed with Papa the whole trip. We all decided it was because he could actually say his name.

 One night we took a little stroll and trolley ride through some of the main street of Park City. Wow that town is so majestic. Quaint yet spectacular at the same time. I loved oohing and ahhing over the gorgeous mountains everywhere and the enormous but beautiful homes lining those mountains.

 Miss Karlee Jo

Grammy styled his hair this night and I kept looking at Max like "who are you?"

 We stopped into the incredibly popular Java Cow for some fresh ice cream. It sure was thick and yummy! Maxson thoroughly appreciated it begging everyone for their ice cream after he had finished off Casey's.

 A night of Settlers (6 player version!) We finally got to teach the parents how to play. I think they both loved it, hated it, understood it, and were totally lost at the same time. 

 Went swimming in the chilly pool with everyone. Then  everyone sat in the hot tub so I dangled my ankles in and Max sat on the very top step that was 2 inches deep; he wouldn't get in the regular pool after that (smart child).

 Maxson devoured the left over smoothie from one morning and had a mustache and large round circle on his face to prove it.

 This was also the first time that as I took pictures of him he was yelling at me "NO!" while putting a stop sign hand at me. So funny.

 We drove back to Wyoming at the end and hung out with everyone there for the evening. Max was in heaven with this tramp (and I think the big kids were too as seen from those smiles).

This is out of order, but one day in Park City we went to a very fun park!

We had such a fun time with the Cutlers in Park City. Love getting to experience new places and adventures with them. Thanks for letting us crash the party!

On a side note we went to Zupas for lunch in Park City and man oh man, that place is gooooood. This was my second time there and I had the same thing as last time: An Italian sandwich and the Lobster bisque soup, both were divine.

the road back to Nebraska

This is very out of order but these are pictures after all our trips to AZ, HI, UT, WY visiting all our families. They just happen to be the next easiest series of photos to post, ha

After Hawaii we got to spend a little more time with Cody and Camille's family which we always love. Lunch at this little Mexican place was fantastico! Maxson devoured a ginormous quesadilla, danced to the music all of lunch, and was thrilled to have his OWN drink of (watered down) lemonade.

We surprised my niece Annalee one day and went to her school for lunch. I will forever remember that as we walked into the very noisy and full lunch room we were looking everywhere for her, not knowing where she could be and knowing since she's not expecting us she may not see us, but the sight of her standing up at the table with the biggest grin on her face flailing her arms in a big hello-i'm-over-here type of way. It was the absolute cutest, she was beaming with us sitting next to her.

a. Casey brought our nephew Jaden along on one of his mystery shoppers to Panda Express to teach him how to be a "spy"

b. With OBGYN appointments and Chiropractor appointments from our car accident, it seems as though we've had doctor appointments non stop and it's KILLING me. When Max is with us we do everything in our power to make him just sit still…that even means the phone.

a. It's been fun getting to lay on my stomach again at chiropractor appointments with their special tables!!!!!!

one last stop at Bahama Bucks on our way out of town.

Gas stations never failed at having pretty big stuffed animals at them, these were by far the biggest we saw and made Maxson SOO happy.

fell asleep eating his quesadilla on the way to say good bye to Granny and Papa.

Both ways we stopped at my Grandpa's house in St. George. Firstly, it was wonderful to break up the drive from Utah to AZ but secondly and even more importantly, it was so nice to get to visit with him and Grannylynn!

a. This is not an advertisement but the Britax Boulevard car seat is wonderful. I wanted to show how awesome the true side impact collision protection helps hold Max's head up SOOO well when he sleeps, no crooked neck!

b. Ten hour drives=write all over yourself for entertainment and sure have a phone and do whatever you want just please don't squeal/scream/cry (I promise we don't give him the phone that often even if this shows that we do) ha.

Springville splashpad

Whoever was the creator of this Springville splash pad area did a pretty fantastic job UNTIL they put in a water feature fountain RIGHT NEXT to the splash pad with a sign that says "please don't play in the fountain." Are you for reals? That fountain is YELLING at little children to come bask in its waters. Maxson was quite upset that I did not let him in it, we left after he and I began a battle of wills for 20 minutes with lots of tears involved.

Stopped at my brother's house for a quick hola to my family (and a very photogenic picture…) that cute little boy Britton loves to blame naughty things on Maxson when Max is and isn't around, it's quite funny to hear. He does an evil chuckle and says "Maxson do it"

Dinner on the road at IHOP. Gotta blow on that food!

I'm getting so bigggggggg, blergh. On a happier note my mom got me this necklace for my birthday and I'm utterly obsessed with it.

The drive back through (very long) Nebraska. The landscape is pretty: corn fields, farms, blue skies. It just gets old after 30 minutes but you still have 5 hours of it to go and then it just gets plain boring.

And there you have it, our trip back to Nebraska